Tea

In this town they were doing construction on the main road so we had to figure out how to get the bus down a little alley. The first one we tried we got stuck so we tried another one. This one the bus driver, Yao, used his amazing driving skills to get us half way down the alley when he had to stop for a low hanging electrical wire. John, the guide, got out of the bus and grabbed someone’s shovel, climbed a wall, and lifted the wire so the bus could get under it. It was quite the adventure!

For lunch we had a variety of things that we hadn’t really encountered before. One of those things was a plateful of chicken feet. Some of us embraced the cultural delicacy, and others, such as myself, just took funny pictures with them. One thing we did recognize was the sweet and sour pork, which John has ordered for us for about every meal we’ve had here. At least everyone likes it.

The afternoon turned out a little different from what everyone had expected. First we were going to take a boat ride down the river.

It turned out that we had to pay 15 yuan for a battery car ride to the river and then 30 yuan for the “boat.” The boat was actually a two person raft that we had to navigate down about 2 kilometers down the river with sticks. It was a little sketchy at first but it turned out to be a lot of fun. Afterwards though, we had to pay 20 more yuan per person to take a horse-drawn cart to get back to the place where we left out battery cars. We were then taken to the Green River where the local guide told us that if we wanted to pay 15 more yuan we could paddle around in a paddle boat for another 45 minutes. Needless to say, we all just stood around for a couple minutes, took pictures, and walked back to the battery cars.

The evening turned out to be a lot better than the afternoon. We were finally taken back to our yurts to get settled in. We got deluxe yurts! They had air conditioning (that we didn’t need to use) and fit 8 people.

It was a lot nicer than I thought it would be. Inside the yurt they had a table set up in the middle with everyone’s sleeping pads and quilts set up against the wall around it. After we settled our 8 people into our yurt and people had gone to explore and find the bathroom, we decided to play some cards to pass time until dinner. Our yurt got a pretty violent game of spoons (played with chopsticks) going. We even taught the bus driver, who doesn’t really speak any English, and John to come and join us.

Dinner was served to us in our own private eating yurt.

We sat around a long table on our stools and tasted some Russian wine. It was pretty strong. Then we were served goat!!! I thought it was delicious!!! During our meal we got a private show. Performers came in and sang us songs in their traditional costumes.

Then some of the girls got up and “taught” them some American songs.

Hopefully they can remember the words to Backstreet Boy’s “I Want It That Way” because that was the only song we all knew. Then the dancers came in and taught us, or tried to teach us, a traditional folk dance. After dinner we went to the larger show at the outside stage.

After the show we all went to our respective yurts and crashed.

This morning, the 30th, we were served our breakfast in our own private breakfast yurt, again. It was much like the breakfasts we’ve had before, only this time we drank milk tea, which we found out was just tea and powdered milk Then we all went back to “clean up” for our walk through the Green Ravine.

The Green Ravine was very nice.

We were guided through the forest on a wooden path. It was a nice hike down a bunch of stairs and across some babbling brooks listening to the birds, and the bugs. We went to a small Buddhist temple that was along our path. We also stopped and the “Fortune Tree”. Here, you can walk up to a tree trunk and place your hand on one of the many knots. Each spot or knot represents a different fortune, which the local guide would tell us. Some of the fortunes were wealth, long life, and one foretold of many lovers. At the end of our trail we had to climb about 300 stairs up to flat land and a 20 minute walk back to the bus.

After our hike some of us went horseback riding. I was not one of those people so I’m not sure what went on during that time. I can tell you however, that the rest of us sat at the beginning of the trail and played spoons, with chopsticks, again. We had quite a large audience of a bunch of people who didn’t speak English and tried asking questions. John tried to help translate a little, but he got very caught up in the game.

After horseback riding we had lunch. They served the same thing they did yesterday. (Did I mention that I’m very excited to come home, if only to have a bigger variety of food available?) Then another five hour bus ride home. This time we watched The Professional which is just some shoot-em-up movie that I’ve never heard of before. I suppose I could tell you more about it if I had stayed awake to watch it.

When we returned to the University we had a short meeting and had the rest of the evening free to eat dinner and pack